Why Tyrannies Rely On Mercenaries And Foreign Troops: Four Recent Examples And Lessons For The Future

1. When President Maduro was captured by U.S. forces in the middle of the night he was mostly protected by Cuban mercenaries and commandos, a clear sign that he didn’t trust his own countrymen when the chips were down. How can you claim to be a revolutionary and from the people but won’t trust them with your life?

2. The murder of a Minneapolis citizen by masked ICE agents was not a panic decision or an instinctual response. It’s a product of a shoot-first, ask questions later protocol. These officers have been trained by the IDF and Israeli police. I wouldn’t be surprised if IDF members are embedded in these units who are patrolling the streets of Minnesota. These are trigger happy mercenaries, not upholders of the law.

3. The army of the new regime in Syria is filled with foreign terrorists and mercenaries, many of them from Central Asia, but also Libya, Turkey, and even Europe. Just as Assad relied on Iranians, Russians, and Hezbollah for public security, the al-Qaeda led government in Damascus is relying on Turks, ISIS remnants, and foreign mercenaries. Such groups are being tasked to intimidate and kill the citizens of Syria, especially minorities. Relying on foreigners for policing is a sign of a weak state that is afraid of its own people. Syria changed hands and received new Western backing but it is still very much a failed state.

4. Should the anti-government protests in Iran escalate I fully expect that the regime would once again deploy Hezbollah, Afghan mercenaries and Iraqi Shiite groups to the streets alongside their own secret police. You only need a handful of these guys who are willing to shoot to instill confidence in the rest of the security forces. Mercenaries have no attachments to the land and the people so they make excellent killers. A similar phenomenon can be seen in Minneapolis. There only needs to be a couple of IDF agents embedded among I.C.E. to get them to act decisively in heated situations. Ditto for Hezbollah members in Iran’s security forces. 

II.

Venezuela. Minneapolis. Syria. Iran. The same phenomenon can be seen across different cultures, settings, and socio-political contexts. The regimes of these nations rely on foreign terrorists and mercenaries because they don’t trust their own security to kill their people or defend them in critical moments.

I anticipate a similar situation will unfold in Europe and across the West, with E.U. governments increasingly hiring migrants and refugees into the security services. Such people will have zero qualms about imposing martial law, killing dissenters, and enforcing elite mandates.